What Kind of Post-Credits Scene Did Quentin Tarantino Put in 'Once upon a Time in... Hollywood'?
Updated April 27 2020, 4:14 p.m. ET
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood ending spoilers are popping up on the internet, which is exactly what director Quentin Tarantino was worried about.
Before the movie was screened at Cannes, Quentin published an online note urging those who watched the movie to not spoil anything. The director's been known to irk people with his behavior, personality, and "harsh" opinions, but the note that he published seemed not only innocuous, but, entirely sincere.
"I love cinema. You love cinema. It’s the journey of discovering a story for the first time. I’m thrilled to be here in Cannes to share Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood with the festival audience," the letter to critics read. "The cast and crew have worked so hard to create something original, and I only ask that everyone avoids revealing anything that would prevent later audiences from experiencing the film in the same way."
Seems innocent enough, right? But there are some critics who didn't take Quentin's note lightly, saying that it "antagonizes professional critics" and dampens the appeal of "processing" his films for interested viewers to read about.
That being said, Critics are saying that the "distinct" spoiler Quentin is talking about would be very obvious for any reviewer to not point out, because it's such a huge plot point.
Some Once Upon a Time spoilers ahead — you've been warned!
So what should you expect when you head into theaters? A lot of that has to do with the film's structure. The movie been broken up into "three distinct acts," which are really three separate days — February 8th, February 9th, and August 8th of the year 1969
"The stories of Rick, Cliff, and Tate unfold over three days or, as Tarantino says, in three acts: February 8, February 9, and, finally, August 8 — the night when Charles Manson (Damon Herriman) dispatched four members of his “Family” to the house next to Rick’s on Cielo Drive in Beverly Hills, where they found Tate, hairdresser Jay Sebring (Emile Hirsch), and three others."
So, how does Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood End?
There are tons of people keeping mum on the film's ending and the huge turning point in the narrative, but whatever it is, people at Cannes loved it. The movie got a huge standing ovation that lasted seven minutes.
Unless you're a critic or had tickets to Cannes, then you're going to have to wait to see how it actually ends when the movie's released on July 26th.
Does the film have a post-credits scene?
What's great about the movie is that Tarantino loves to pepper movie-within-a-movie references all throughout the flick, like posters pointing to Rick Dalton's (Leonardo DiCaprio) career.
But the answer is yes, it has two-ish after credits scenes.
SPOILERS don't read ahead if you don't want to know what the scene is.
Bruce Lee is portrayed by Mike Moh.
In several trailers for the film, Brad Pitt's character in Hollywood is seen fighting Bruce Lee, who is brilliantly portrayed by actor Mike Moh. Brad, in real life, has his own connection with the Lee family — through the action star's son, Brandon.
In an interview, Brad recalled a night he spent with Brandon that sprawled into the early morning hours with the two of them drinking and getting stoned. Brandon told the Fight Club star that he thought he was going to die young like his father.
A year later, Brandon got the lead role in The Crow where a freak shooting accident involving a defective blank resulted in the young actor's death. He was 28 years old at the time.
Brad admits that in 1992 he chalked up his conversation with Brandon to booze, weed, and romanticism, but the eerie premonition made a lasting impression on the actor.
Who does Luke Perry play in Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood?
The tragic death of the Riverdale star shocked the world. Before he passed of a stroke at 52-years-old, Luke worked with Brad and Leo on the film and the stars gushed about his work ethic and how awesome it was to act with him.
Brad talked about how excited he was to see Luke on set, especially because he was an "icon of coolness" that him and his friends looked up to while watching Beverly Hills 90210.
In the film Luke plays Lancer, another actor working on a Western with Leonardo's character, Rick Dalton. He appears briefly in the trailer and critics who have seen the film have had nothing but great things to say about his work.
The first is a mid-credits one where Rick Dalton is smoking Red Apple cigarettes, which is a fictional brand of smokes Tarantino has featured in a bunch of his other movies. He gushes about the cigs, saying that they come factory rolled and have less burn on the throat than any other brand!
"Better drag, more flavor, less throat burn," Dalton says right before taking a drag. Then after smiling, he spits the Red Apple out of his mouth and tosses the package on the floor, and mutters that the cigarettes, "taste like s****."
The "scene" after the credits is an actual '60s advertisement for KHJ Boss Radio from Adam West and Burt Ward asking people to call in to the "Batphone Secret Number Contest". The contests asks listeners to watch the psychadelic Batman TV show West and Ward starred in for clues as to the number for the "Batphone". The first person to call in the correct number won a trip to the Batman TV set, have lunch with the show's stars, and win a 1966 color TV set. You can listen to the ad here.
